0:02

He was involved in a criminal

0:04

world with his friends and associates.

0:06

It quickly ed related into

0:09

the homicide. It wouldn't surprise

0:11

me at all incompetence or corruption,

0:14

especially in DC. There was a lot

0:16

of activity going on. The case was

0:19

forgotten while open up this can of worm.

0:22

There were things that were just bess left

0:24

buried. Welcome

0:28

back to Shattered Souls the car Barn Murders.

0:31

I'm your host, Karen Smith. This is

0:33

episode fifteen. This

0:36

podcast contains graphic language and

0:38

is not suitable for children. Previously

0:44

on the Carborn murders in

0:49

ninety four, Captain Theodore

0:52

Volton wrote a follow up report after

0:54

a male confidential informant came forward

0:56

with new information on the Carborn murder

0:59

case. This same informant

1:01

had come forward in nineteen forty along

1:03

with a female informant, with information

1:05

that the robbery and murders were planned in

1:07

a beauty salon operated by Jonas

1:10

Willard Green, a former sergeant

1:12

from the Washington d C. Police Force. The

1:16

female informants said that Jonas Willard

1:18

Greene, William Clark, a man

1:20

named White, a woman named Emmanuel,

1:23

and a man named Duffy all attended

1:25

this meeting Jonas

1:28

Willard Green ran a large number

1:30

of rooming houses around the district and

1:32

amassed millions of dollars in profits

1:35

without ever being questioned or arrested

1:37

for any violations of the law, even

1:39

though the vast majority of his tenants were

1:41

young, single women. It's

1:43

my belief that the vast majority of his rooming

1:46

houses were dens of prostitution and

1:48

hubs for racketeers. I

1:50

found no definitive proof such as

1:52

police raids listed in the news,

1:54

but the circumstantial evidence and common

1:57

sense certainly points the needle in that

1:59

direct action. Based upon the exponential

2:02

growth of the Green's wealth in

2:04

a very short period of time, a

2:07

fugitive from justice on a rape chart

2:10

had taken refuge in one of Green's rooms,

2:12

and Green had some type of alliance

2:14

with Orville Staples, another

2:17

x DC police officer who became the

2:19

boss in the slot machine and bootlegging

2:21

rackets. Jonas Willard

2:23

Green's high end clothing business,

2:25

Mill Green Incorporated, burned

2:28

to the ground under suspicious circumstances

2:31

right before a final bankruptcy hearing,

2:33

nearly killing two tenants of a third floor

2:35

apartment. Green filed

2:37

an insurance claim for ten thousand dollars

2:40

for the loss of the contents that were supposed

2:42

to have been sold at a bankruptcy sale months

2:44

before. Jonas Willard

2:46

Green quit the police department under a

2:48

dark cloud after three district

2:51

inspectors found six violations

2:53

in just one week of following

2:56

his every move. Numerous letters

2:58

to the DC Commissioners from senators

3:00

and congressmen failed to get Green

3:02

off the hook. It made me

3:04

wonder what Green got away with before

3:06

someone in the department decided to get firsthand

3:09

dirt on him. At

3:11

the end of episode fourteen, I mentioned

3:13

that I also discovered that Jonas Willard

3:16

Green was related to District

3:18

Commission President Melvin Hazen, one

3:20

of the most influential elites in the

3:22

district. I found out that

3:25

Green and Hazen were cousins,

3:28

talk about one hand washing the other.

3:31

In nineteen thirty three, Hazen

3:33

was appointed to his position by President

3:36

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with whom

3:38

Hazen was a social friend. Hazen

3:41

was also friends with members of the Senate in

3:43

Congress, the District Attorney's office,

3:46

and with d C Police Superintendent Ernest

3:48

Brown, Lord Mayor of

3:50

Washington. Melvin Hazen had the

3:52

power to quash criminal charges for

3:54

his friends with a simple phone call. In

3:57

my eyes, Jonas Willard Green

4:00

skirted the law because he was politically,

4:02

socially and economically connected

4:05

to the right person, his own

4:07

cousin, who took payoffs to ignore

4:09

any violations. The

4:11

police department allowed his rooming house

4:13

prostitution business to operate, turned

4:16

a blind eye to Green's underworld deals

4:18

and pocketed hush money. Taking

4:20

payoffs to ignore it was much easier

4:23

than going after a big fish like Jonas

4:25

Willard Green, who had connections that led

4:27

directly to the Capitol Building and the

4:29

White House through his cousin Melvin

4:32

Hazen. In my opinion,

4:34

Jonas Willard Green was hands

4:36

off untouchable. Teflon

4:40

Green was a man of great wealth and influence

4:42

with a family connection to the most influential

4:45

man in the city. As long as those

4:47

at the top of the political food chain worked

4:50

together, there was no threat or

4:52

worry about getting caught by the police, who

4:54

were being paid handsomely to look the other way.

4:57

On the surface, the scheme was simple

5:00

and clear cut, but the public was being

5:02

sold a bill of goods. Since the real

5:05

racket kings like Jonas Willard Green

5:07

were operating wide open and

5:10

with the tacit permission of those tasked

5:12

with eliminating them simply put

5:15

money talks. Jonas

5:18

Willard Green and his wife Gertrude

5:20

opened a beauty parlor Green's

5:22

Company Incorporated in nine in

5:25

the tobacco store that had been owned by

5:27

Gertrude's father before he died. Green's

5:31

Company Incorporated was in the same location

5:33

as the Shingle Shop, a beauty parlor

5:36

half owned by James Weir, and

5:38

the Modern School of Beauty owned by weird

5:40

sister Niva Berardinelli. This

5:43

single location of all three businesses

5:46

was the connective tissue between Jonas

5:48

Willard Green, James Weir, and

5:50

William Clark, my primary suspect

5:53

for the robbery and murders of James Mitchell

5:55

and Emery Smith. The

5:58

fact that all three of these dy

6:00

salon's were one and the same adds

6:02

a lot of weight to the statement by the female

6:04

confidential informant who said that the crime

6:07

was planned in a beauty salon operated

6:09

by Jonas Willard Green, and that William

6:11

Clark was at that meeting. The

6:14

female informant was privy to

6:16

this information, who was present and

6:18

where it occurred, so she must have either

6:20

been a direct witness to this meeting or

6:22

had credible information of her own to

6:25

offer to Captain Bolton. Continuing

6:28

to unfold the nineteen fifty four

6:30

addendum report, Captain

6:32

Bolton came out of retirement and did

6:34

some digging of his own. He

6:37

found out that the woman who went by

6:39

the name Emmanuel, who was present

6:41

during the planning meeting at Green's beauty salon,

6:44

was actually named Gertrude. Could

6:47

she have been Jonas Willard Green's ex wife,

6:50

Gertrude Pond or Green's

6:52

daughter Gertrude She also

6:54

became a beautician, and an award winning

6:56

one at that That sure seemed coincidental

6:59

to me. Volton

7:02

also discovered information about Duffy,

7:05

the mechanic who operated a garage

7:07

for Jonas Willard Green in the area

7:09

of Seventh and End Streets Northwest.

7:12

Duffy was also at the meeting, and he disappeared

7:15

in nineteen thirty six and was never

7:18

heard from again. If

7:20

Duffy helped to hide the car used

7:22

in the murders and wasn't trusted

7:24

to keep things quiet, was he expendable?

7:28

Was Duffy another despicable

7:31

witness? Elimination the

7:33

female informant and Volton searched

7:35

that area in nineteen forty, but

7:38

the garage and car were never located.

7:41

Also recall the name

7:44

John Swayes, William Clark's

7:46

associate. Swayes

7:48

was a taxi driver and mechanic, and he

7:50

lived at Fourth and End Streets Northwest,

7:53

just three blocks from that garage.

7:56

William Clark visited John

7:58

Swayes at a gas station and on the night

8:00

he took Mary Branch out to killer. That

8:03

sounded like additional premeditated

8:05

planning between Clarke and Swales.

8:09

Could John Swales actually

8:11

have been Duffy, the mechanic

8:13

who worked for Jonas Willard Green and was

8:16

never heard from after nineteen thirty six.

8:19

My sixth sense says yes, but

8:22

unfortunately I don't know for sure,

8:24

and I have no way to find out.

8:28

Before I go forward, I need to say

8:30

this, we stand on the shoulders

8:33

of giants when we work cold cases

8:35

like this one. Without the

8:37

incredible gumshoe detective work of

8:39

Theodore Bolton, Leroy Rogers,

8:42

James mccauliffe, Stewart Deal

8:44

and the follow ups by Jack Toomey, and

8:46

the reports and information that have been preserved

8:49

for over eighty seven years, I would

8:51

never have been able to complete my investigation.

8:54

I have to give credit where it's due to

8:57

all of them. I say thank you for your

8:59

debty cation and work to try to find the answers.

9:02

You handed the ball off and I ran with it. This

9:05

investigation was not only for my

9:08

family and James Mitchell's family, it

9:10

was for all of them as well. Captain

9:14

Volton's ninety four report

9:16

rounded out the list of players in this

9:18

horrible story. I had to

9:20

finish putting all of the pieces together to present

9:23

a case not only to you, but

9:25

to the people with the power to make a ruling

9:27

on the Carborn case and whether or

9:29

not my investigation is worthy

9:31

of ruling. It closed for good, just

9:34

like my years on the street. If it's

9:36

not documented, it didn't happen. It's

9:39

all in the articulation. And believe me,

9:41

this is the longest police report I've ever

9:43

written. In order for a case

9:45

to go forward, the information must

9:47

be accurate, factual, objective,

9:50

and verifiable. Obviously,

9:52

there won't be any arrests or indictments

9:54

since everyone involved is presumed dead

9:57

given their age at the time of the crime. But

9:59

my game is to get the Carborn

10:02

case officially solved and closed.

10:05

You play the most important role. You're

10:07

the public jury. After you've listened

10:10

to all of the evidence and information, I'm

10:12

going to leave it in your hands to decide

10:14

whether or not I've made my case, and either

10:16

take that information to the Montgomery County

10:18

State Attorney's Office for a final ruling, or

10:21

be satisfied that although I gave

10:23

it my best shot, there just wasn't

10:26

enough in the public side to make a verdict. That's

10:28

a scary prospect, but it's the

10:31

only fair and balanced way to do this.

10:34

This is a largely circumstantial

10:36

case, and after eighty seven years, that's

10:38

not surprising. There's no DNA

10:40

available, no murder weapon to

10:42

do ballistics comparisons. The

10:45

evidence from the scene at the Rock Creek Bridge

10:47

was lost or destroyed decades ago. The

10:50

gun and bloody clothing, supposedly

10:52

in the possession of Captain Richard McCarty

10:54

was never reported or followed up. The

10:56

car was never found. The reports

10:59

detailed nothing about the clothing of victims

11:01

James Mitchell and Emery Smith, and the

11:03

chain of custody for the bullets and casings

11:05

is unclear since they were sent via the

11:07

post Office to various other departments

11:09

for comparison to their cases with similar

11:12

circumstances. It's my understanding

11:15

that there is one bullet that's remained

11:17

in a sealed envelope from Pumphrey's

11:19

fueral home, and that evidence is still

11:21

in the possession of the Montgomery County Police. Without

11:24

a gun for comparison, it's useless.

11:27

Without a chain of custody for the gun,

11:29

if it's ever located, the murder weapon

11:31

would be useless. Bottom line, this

11:34

isn't a forensic case. In

11:36

order for you, the public jury, to make

11:38

a fair ruling, there are a couple

11:40

of little housekeeping items to go through, starting

11:43

with an explanation of the types of evidence,

11:46

direct and circumstantial. Either

11:49

of them can be used to prove any fact.

11:51

There's no distinction between the weight

11:53

that you can give to either direct or circumstantial

11:56

evidence. It is for you, the

11:58

jury, to decide how huch weight

12:00

to give any piece of evidence. Now,

12:02

what's the difference. Direct

12:04

evidence establishes a fact. Eyewitness

12:07

testimony and suspect confessions are

12:10

examples of direct evidence, and as we

12:12

all know, eyewitness testimony can

12:14

be flawed and people can give false confessions.

12:17

So even though direct evidence can

12:19

provide a factual part of a case, the

12:21

weight of that direct evidence still

12:23

hinges on the totality of circumstances,

12:26

and that is where circumstantial evidence

12:28

comes in. Circumstantial

12:30

evidence is what many cases are based

12:33

on. This includes forensic science

12:35

like DNA and fingerprints. It's

12:38

not absolute proof of a fact

12:40

in and of itself, but when circumstantial

12:43

evidence from multiple sources all

12:45

lead to the same conclusion, then it's

12:47

considered to be proof of guilt beyond a reasonable

12:49

doubt. Does that circumstantial

12:52

evidence lead to other evidence that tells

12:54

a logical story? Now, hold on,

12:56

there's a catch. It's only

12:58

proof of guilt if there's no alternative

13:01

explanation of innocence that makes as

13:03

much sense or more sense than the establishment

13:06

of guilt through that same evidence. In

13:09

short, is there a logical

13:11

conclusion through the circumstantial

13:13

evidence that establishes the facts of the

13:15

case along with any intent by the suspect.

13:18

In the end, the jury has to weigh

13:20

not only the facts presented in the way

13:22

of direct evidence, but the logical conclusions

13:26

via circumstantial evidence. It's

13:28

a heavy burden. Sometimes when a case hinges

13:30

on one eye witness or one small

13:33

forensic clue. Henry

13:35

David Thoreau once said, some

13:38

circumstantial evidence is very strong,

13:41

as when you find a trout in the milk.

13:44

He meant that, if you find a trout in

13:46

your milk bucket, it sure didn't swim

13:48

there on its own. And my opinion,

13:51

if the Carborn case is that milk

13:53

bucket, there's an entire aquarium

13:56

swimming around in it. If

13:58

I were to present the evidence on this case

14:01

today to one of the prosecutors

14:03

I worked with over many years and many

14:05

investigations, I believe

14:08

that not only would they bring forward a criminal

14:10

indictment, they'd also receive a

14:12

resounding guilty verdict in court

14:14

once they argued the facts to an unbiased

14:16

jury. Now that's just my

14:18

opinion, and opinions are like, well,

14:22

you know, everybody has one. I

14:25

had to take all of this into consideration

14:28

when I started to make my conclusions on

14:30

this case. I knew that there

14:32

would be very little, if any, direct evidence,

14:34

and that it would be largely circumstantial. But

14:37

after being a witness in so many trials

14:39

as a detective and watching how the prosecution

14:42

and the defense put their cases together, I

14:45

had a pretty good idea of how to present

14:47

my findings to you in an unbiased

14:49

way. Believe me, I

14:51

would love nothing more than to stamp

14:53

the words case solved on this file,

14:56

but that's not how it works. I

14:58

have to rely on an objective jury.

15:01

That's you. So welcome

15:03

to the car Barn Murders Podcast

15:05

courtroom. Switch your investigator

15:08

thinking cap over to your impartial

15:11

juror hat and let's get started. I'll

15:14

begin with a quick review and then I'm going

15:16

to present the case against my primary

15:18

suspect, William Clark. On

15:22

January one, ninety

15:25

two victims were brutally murdered during

15:27

a robbery of the Chevy Chase Lake ticket

15:29

office of the Capital Transit Company.

15:32

James Mitchell and Emery Smith had both

15:34

been shot multiple times in the head with

15:36

the same gun, a coult

15:39

Oh three thirty two caliber semi

15:41

automatic. James Mitchell's

15:43

body was left on the floor of the locked money

15:45

cage and Emery Smith's body was found

15:47

floating in Rock Creek, just a mile north

15:49

of the office. Evidence

15:52

suggested that Smith had been shot in a

15:54

car at close range before being dragged

15:56

into the water by two suspects. Emery

15:59

Smith had punched his time clock card at

16:01

four twenty three am, the last

16:03

verifiable action of either victim.

16:06

Witness Parker Hannah arrived for work

16:09

at about five ten in the morning and found

16:11

the front door of the ticket office unlocked.

16:13

When he entered, he found James Mitchell's

16:15

body in the locked money cage. Parker

16:18

Hannah, Robert Abersolt, and Lynwood

16:21

Jones went into the trainman's room

16:23

and found Francis Gregory allegedly

16:25

asleep on a bench next to the wall adjacent

16:28

to the money cage where Mitchell was shot and

16:30

killed. All of the other

16:32

doors inside of the ticket office were reported

16:35

to be unlocked. Parker

16:37

Hannah reported that the north side window

16:39

was unlocked, with muddy shoeprints left

16:41

on the window sill, the screen lying on

16:43

the ground outside, and one set of

16:45

shoeprints in the snow outside of that window.

16:48

Ear witnessed Charles Smallwood heard

16:51

gunshots and shouting on the street from

16:53

the basement of the T. W. Perry Coal Company

16:55

at around four thirty five am.

16:59

I witness Anist Carter was waiting

17:01

on the first trolley at Dan's hotdog

17:03

stand at around four thirty when

17:06

he heard gunshots and shouting, and saw

17:08

two white men run out of the ticket office

17:10

and get into a green buick driven

17:12

by a third man. He reported

17:14

that the car was initially facing southbound,

17:17

did a U turn on Connecticut Avenue and

17:19

went north toward the Rock Creek Bridge.

17:22

Shoeprints in the snow exited the

17:24

car barn and stopped abruptly

17:26

at Connecticut Avenue. Other

17:28

shoeprints led south from an area

17:31

of empty lots to the north of the ticket

17:33

office and back to tire tracks

17:35

of a vehicle that circled and waited before

17:37

turning southbound on Connecticut Avenue. Hand

17:40

impressions in the snow on a rock between

17:42

the office and the empty lots showed

17:44

that someone stopped and sat down. No

17:47

fingerprints were found on any evidence,

17:50

and no blood was found outside of the ticket

17:52

office. Four shell casings,

17:54

one thirty two caliber bullet, and two

17:56

projectiles were collected at the scene,

17:59

one from behind and an inkwell and one

18:01

from the plaster above the desk. Another

18:03

projectile went through the desk and remained

18:06

lodged in the wall that separated the office

18:08

from the trainman's room. There were no reports

18:10

of any shell casings found at the bridge over Rock

18:13

Creek or anywhere outside of the ticket

18:15

office or Carborne. On

18:17

the afternoon of Monday, January twenty

18:20

one, the day of the murders, William

18:22

Clark went to police headquarters and

18:25

told the detectives that he'd heard Street talk

18:27

about his possible involvement and inserted

18:29

himself into the investigation. He

18:31

was held in jail for three days. Clark's

18:34

girlfriend, Mary Branch and his friend

18:36

James Weir were also arrested and

18:38

brought in for questioning. William

18:41

Clark worked for Capital Transit

18:43

at the chevy Chase Lake Ticket office for

18:45

one month in September of nineteen thirty

18:48

four. On October

18:50

fourteenth, nineteen thirty four, he was arrested

18:52

along with James Weir for committing an armed

18:54

robbery. Around Christmas of

18:57

nineteen thirty four, William Clark

18:59

sold his Capital Transit Company uniform

19:01

to Francis Gregory, the man allegedly

19:03

sleeping in the trainman's room on the morning of the murders.

19:07

On Saturday, January nineteenth, nineteen

19:10

thirty five, just two days before the murders,

19:13

William Clark went to the chevy Chase Lake

19:15

Ticket office two times under the guise

19:17

of retrieving a change carrier. On

19:19

Sunday night, January Clark

19:22

had a meeting with a police officer at the

19:24

apartment of his girlfriend, Mary Branch

19:26

at fourteen fifteen Gerard Street.

19:29

Clark said that he, James Weir

19:31

and Mary Branch all went to the Gaiety

19:33

Theater and arrived back home around eleven

19:36

thirty pm. He said that he didn't

19:38

leave Mary's apartment until one fifteen Monday

19:40

afternoon, at which point he went down

19:42

to police headquarters. William

19:45

Clark admitted to sleeping in the bedroom while

19:47

Mary Branch slept on the couch. James

19:50

Weir went home around eleven fifteen pm.

19:53

This was verified by his friend Joseph

19:55

Goddard. William Clark

19:57

said that he had an appointment with mister Stevens,

20:00

the superintendent of Transportation, for

20:02

Monday, January twenty first, in order

20:04

to get his job back. Mister

20:06

Stevens referred Clark to mister Kelly,

20:09

the company's attorney. Clark

20:11

did not keep either appointment, opting instead

20:14

to go to the police station. A

20:16

green Buick was stolen from the area

20:19

of fifteenth in Irving Street at around

20:21

ten o'clock p m. On Sunday night, January

20:23

twentieth. This car was never recovered,

20:25

and it was located within walking distance

20:28

from William Clark's apartment on Gerard Street,

20:30

just two blocks away. I witness

20:33

Ernest Carter was certain that the car

20:35

he saw outside of the ticket office at

20:37

the time of the robbery and murders was a Green

20:39

Buick. Here say

20:41

information from witness kW Gettings

20:44

via his roommate, alleged that Gettings

20:46

saw William Clark on the morning of the murders

20:49

in a Pontiac sedan parked

20:51

across the street from the fourteenth and East

20:53

Capitol Street ticket office when a milk

20:55

truck shined its headlights across the driver

20:58

of the car, whom Gettings identify as

21:00

William Clark. During

21:03

his police interview, William Clark

21:05

admitted to knowing James Mitchell. I

21:08

discovered that Mitchell aided the police

21:10

on a previous arrest of Clark for robbery.

21:13

Clark denied knowing my great uncle Emory

21:15

Smith. However, he described Smith very

21:18

accurately during his interview with detectives,

21:20

and he worked at the same location and

21:22

during the same hours as Emory Smith

21:24

for a month in the fall of nineteen thirty four.

21:28

William Clark's movements, meetings,

21:31

times of departure, return, and

21:33

subsequent actions did not coincide

21:35

at all with the information from his girlfriend

21:38

Mary Branch. Clark failed

21:40

to mention any meeting with a police officer

21:42

on Sunday night, a taxi ride

21:45

to the Gayety Theater. He also

21:47

failed to mention his friendship with Francis

21:49

Gregory until the detectives prompted

21:51

a response, at which time he admitted

21:53

to knowing Gregory. William

21:55

Clark also admitted that he frequented

21:57

the horse track we William

22:00

Clark was in serious debt. He

22:02

owed witness Frank Sherman one hundred

22:05

sixty five dollars to whom he had already

22:07

written several bad checks. Clarke

22:09

gave Sheerman a vehicle as collateral. Clark

22:12

told Sherman that three hundred dollars

22:14

was owed on the bank note, but in actuality

22:16

there was six hundred fifty dollars owed

22:18

on the car from a previous loan that Clark

22:21

had taken out on it. The week

22:23

before the murders, Clark, his

22:25

cousin Benny Johnson, and two other

22:27

men went to Sherman's home in Baltimore

22:30

at one thirty in the morning and tried

22:32

to strong arm the car back. Clark

22:34

told Sheuerman that he desperately needed

22:36

it. Clark left without the car and

22:39

Mr. Sherman kept it. Mary

22:41

Branch said that Clark had been in trouble

22:43

for failing to pay alimony to his wife,

22:46

Viola and in support of their three children.

22:49

Mary also stated that she had paid money

22:51

on the car that Clark took to Sherman's. She

22:53

helped him financially, gave him food

22:55

and a place to live. In

22:57

May of nineteen thirty five, just five

23:00

months after the murders of James Mitchell and Emery

23:02

Smith, William Clark drove

23:04

Mary Branch into rural Ilchester,

23:07

Maryland, in the middle of the night. He

23:09

beat her senseless with a blackjack and

23:11

then threw her over a thirty five foot bridge

23:14

into the Patapsco River, believing

23:16

he had left her for dead. Later

23:18

that morning, Clark got word from

23:20

his cousin Benny Johnson, threw a taxi

23:23

driver that Mary survived the beating and

23:25

fall into the water and was at the hospital. William

23:28

Clark panicked and ran out of his apartment,

23:30

followed closely by a woman. Clark

23:33

represented himself in court on the attempted murder

23:35

charge and was found guilty in

23:37

June of nineteen thirty five. He received

23:40

an eight year prison sentence at the Maryland

23:42

State Penitentiary. Before

23:44

the attempt on her life, Mary Branch

23:46

had been talking to Francis Gregory and told

23:49

Gregory that Clark would sit around and plan

23:51

hold ups. She also told Gregory

23:54

that she heard Clarke was seeing another woman,

23:56

and if she found that to be true, she

23:58

would tell everything she new to the police.

24:01

A few days later, Clark tried to kill

24:03

her. Mary told a newspaper

24:06

reporter that the reason for the attempted murder

24:08

was because she knew too much. William

24:12

Clark purchased furniture and put

24:14

five hundred dollars down on a house in Chevy

24:16

Chase with his other girlfriend, Edith

24:18

Small, the woman referenced by Mary

24:20

Branch as the catalyst for her discussion

24:22

with Francis Gregory. Mary

24:25

Branch wrote to William Clark in prison

24:27

regarding surreptitious letters that she

24:29

intercepted sent from Edith Small

24:32

to George McNeil. The

24:34

letters referenced Clark and Edith's

24:36

communications in which Edith wrote

24:39

that quote, she hoped you would soon

24:41

get your release so she and you could

24:43

carry out your plans. During

24:46

Francis Gregory's interview, he ended

24:48

it by saying he believed William Clark

24:50

was in on the Carborn job. During

24:53

William Clark's interview, the detectives

24:55

surmised that Clark could have been the

24:58

fingerman for the murders. D

25:00

C Police Captain Richard McCarty

25:03

believed that Clark could have used a bottle

25:05

of anesthesia found at the apartment to

25:07

render Mary Branch unconscious

25:09

before committing the crime. A

25:12

prostitute named Marjorie had

25:14

information that Clark pulled the Carborn

25:16

job, which she disclosed to Richmond

25:18

Police Sergeant Anthony during a tryst.

25:21

Captain Volton's two confidential informants

25:24

also named William Clark as the perpetrator.

25:28

William Clark pawned a watch taken

25:30

during the robbery of an employee of

25:32

the Hot Shops restaurant chain to a man

25:34

named John Swayes. Clark

25:37

visited Swales at a gas station at Fourth

25:39

and End Street Northwest on the night he took

25:41

Mary Branch out to kill her. John

25:43

Swayales also visited Clark several

25:46

times when he worked at the Chevy Chase Lake office.

25:49

John Swayes was a taxi driver and

25:51

a mechanic. From his prison

25:53

cell, Clark wrote to several people,

25:56

including Nevo Berardinelli, James

25:58

Weir sister. James Weir

26:00

had a half interest in the Shingle Shop beauty parlor.

26:03

Niva Borardinelli owned the Modern School

26:05

of Beauty. Both shared a location

26:07

with Green's Company Incorporated, a

26:09

beauty parlor owned by ex DC Police

26:12

Sergeant Jonas Willard Green. In

26:15

nineteen thirty eight, Captain Richard

26:17

McCarty informed Captain Bolton

26:20

that he completed an independent investigation

26:22

on William Clark in nineteen thirty five and

26:24

about the anesthesia bottle that was never reported.

26:27

Captain McCarty was also allegedly

26:29

in possession of a gun and bloody clothing

26:32

that belonged to William Clark, but the disposition

26:34

of those items remains unknown. Clark

26:37

was also alleged to have received three

26:39

or four guns from a police officer, but this

26:41

was also unsubstantiated. In

26:44

nineteen thirty five, a reference was

26:46

made to Shorty at the garage at

26:49

seventh and End Street Northwest, who

26:51

could tell more about Clark

26:53

than anyone. Another man named

26:55

Duffy operated a garage at Seventh

26:57

and End Street Northwest and was a mccannic

27:00

for Jonas Willard Green. In

27:03

nineteen forty, Detective Volton

27:05

and a female informant attempted to find

27:07

a garage in the area of Seventh and End Streets

27:10

that how's the vehicle used in the robbery

27:12

and murders. The garage and car were

27:14

never located. In

27:16

nineteen fifty four, a male confidential

27:18

informant came forward with new information.

27:21

This same informant had also spoken about

27:23

the murders in nineteen forty. The

27:25

male informant received information

27:28

from a confidential female informant

27:30

that the robbery and murders were planned in a beauty

27:32

salon operated by Jonas Willard

27:34

Green, and that William Clark was at that

27:37

meeting. Those

27:39

are the facts about William Clark

27:42

as they've been presented in the case file and

27:44

within my objective investigation. With

27:46

all of that information, I can add

27:49

some additional circumstantial evidence

27:51

that I've found during my exhaustive research

27:53

and make some logical conclusions. First,

27:57

I'm going to establish the means, the

27:59

motive, and the opportunity for William

28:01

Clark to have committed the Carborn robbery

28:03

and murders. Motive is

28:05

the reason behind the crime, means

28:08

is the ability to commit the crime,

28:10

and opportunity is the chance to

28:12

commit the crime. These three

28:15

aspects are used to assist

28:17

prosecutors and investigators with the

28:19

narrowing down of suspects.

28:22

Although they can be considered a trifecta

28:24

of information and provide essential facts

28:26

about a specific suspect, they're not

28:29

in and of themselves conclusive regarding

28:31

guilt. So for now just consider

28:33

this information regarding William clark motive.

28:38

It was a robbery first and foremost

28:41

so the motive was money.

28:43

William Clark was in serious debt

28:45

and he had a new girlfriend, Edith Small.

28:48

He moved his clothes from the apartment of

28:50

his other girlfriend, Mary Branch, two

28:53

weeks prior to the murders. He went

28:55

back to Mary's apartment on Saturday and

28:57

stayed there until Monday afternoon, when he turned

28:59

himself off in William Clark

29:01

attempted to kill Mary Branch when she threatened

29:04

to tell what she knew to the police. He

29:06

owed alimony to his wife, Fiola, in

29:08

addition to other debts owed to Frank Sherman,

29:11

and Mary Branch stated that she was supporting

29:13

him financially. I also believe

29:15

that William Clark had a gambling debt

29:18

to some very dangerous or very

29:20

important people, namely Jonas

29:22

Willard Green or one of his close affiliates.

29:26

I suspect that Clark got an

29:28

ultimatum at the Beauty Salon meeting

29:30

and a final warning during their Sunday

29:33

night meeting time's up, pay

29:35

me or else. Clark attempted

29:37

to repossess a car from Frank Sherman

29:39

the week before the murders, ostensibly

29:42

to repay his debt under fraudulent

29:44

circumstances since the car was

29:46

already in arrears from a previous

29:48

loan. After the carborn

29:51

robbery and murders, William Clark

29:53

had the funds to purchase furniture and

29:55

put a five hundred dollar deposit down on a house.

29:58

William Clark had the motive to

30:00

commit the crime next

30:03

his means. Clark knew

30:05

the operation of the Chevy Chase Lake office

30:08

inside and out, since he worked there and

30:10

saw it firsthand. He would

30:12

have known about the vacant lots just to

30:14

the north of the ticket office and the path through

30:16

the snow passed the miniature golf course to

30:19

get to the front door, which had been left unlocked

30:21

for him. Clark's car was at Shoreman's

30:23

in Baltimore, and he was unsuccessful at

30:25

getting it back. The stolen Green

30:28

Buick was located within walking distance

30:30

from his apartment on Gerard Street. I

30:32

witnessed Ernest Carter named the car he saw as

30:35

a Green Buick. Clark could have secreted

30:37

the car in the garage at Seventh and End Streets

30:39

and called his buddy and taxi driver, John

30:42

Swales, who lived just three blocks away,

30:44

to take Clark and the others back to Girard

30:46

Street before the sun came up. Regarding

30:49

the murder weapon, it was reported

30:52

that a police officer gave Clark three

30:54

or four different guns. That's unsubstantiated,

30:57

but access to a firearm wouldn't have been an

30:59

issue. The gun used in the carborn

31:01

murders was described as older and

31:03

in not very good shape, which would

31:06

point to a street purchase, something

31:08

Clark would have been very familiar with. Since

31:10

he was previously arrested for an armed robbery,

31:13

Clark had the means to commit the crime.

31:16

Finally, opportunity William

31:18

Clark's alibi was Mary Branch and James

31:20

Weir, both of whom initially substantiated

31:23

his story about attending the Gaiety Theater

31:25

on Sunday night, but the murders

31:27

didn't happen until early Monday morning.

31:30

Mary Branch and William Clark slept

31:32

separately by their own admission, so Mary

31:35

couldn't alliby him. James Weir

31:37

was home by eleven fifteen p m. According

31:39

to Mary Branch and Weir's frand Joseph

31:41

Goddard. Imperatively,

31:44

I recently found a newspaper

31:46

ad for the Gaiety Theater that listed

31:48

the showtimes. There

31:50

was no evening show on Sunday nights. The

31:53

matinee started at five o'clock. None

31:56

of them went to the Gaiety Theater

31:58

on Sunday night. There was no trip

32:00

in a taxi to the Gayety. Their entire

32:02

alibi about going there on Sunday night was

32:04

pure, unadulterated bullshit. The

32:07

green buick was stolen at around ten o'clock

32:10

PM on Sunday night, when Clark

32:12

was not at the theater. William

32:15

Clark had no alibi whatsoever

32:17

for the night of January to the

32:19

morning of January one, William

32:22

Clark had the opportunity to commit this crime.

32:26

Now that I've established the means, motive, and opportunity

32:29

for William Clark, let me go a little further

32:31

with the circumstantial evidence, using my investigative

32:33

experience peppered with a little common

32:36

sense. William Clark

32:38

worked at the chevy Chase Lake office as a conductor

32:40

for one month in the fall of ninety four.

32:43

He knew the layout of that office, the

32:45

times that the Brinks truck would be scheduled

32:47

for a pick up on Monday morning, the amounts

32:49

available, how it was packaged in

32:51

large canvas bags, that only one

32:54

clerk would be inside of the office, ingress

32:56

and egress routes from Connecticut Avenue

32:59

where to park the are and that the final

33:01

trolley of the night left the barn at two oh

33:03

five and the three hour window before

33:05

the next one was scheduled to depart at

33:07

five thirty. Clark would have

33:09

known that the night watchman would be across

33:12

the street at the car barn readying

33:14

the trolleys for that first morning run. Clark

33:17

also had a friend working there that night, whom

33:19

I believe he enlisted to make sure that all

33:21

of the doors were unlocked. Francis Gregory

33:24

Clark went to the office twice on Saturday

33:26

for no authentic reason. It's

33:28

my opinion that he was getting one last

33:30

look at the schedule board to see who would be working

33:33

on Sunday night, one final

33:35

walk through of the office to get reacquainted

33:37

with the doors, the locks, exits,

33:40

and entrances, and he scoped it out

33:42

to make sure his plan would work without a hitch.

33:45

Another reason for going there on Saturday

33:47

would be to make sure that any fingerprints

33:49

left behind during the robbery could be explained

33:51

away should the cops find them after the crime.

33:54

Clark also wanted to show his face

33:56

to as many people as possible to

33:59

establish a receding alibi,

34:01

just in case anyone named him outright

34:03

as a suspect. He could just say, of

34:06

course, it wasn't me. I was there on Saturday,

34:08

which was exactly what happened. On

34:11

Sunday evening, Clark met with a

34:13

police officer with blonde hair whose

34:16

name sounded like Creek or Greek. Jonas

34:18

Willard Green I believe

34:21

that Clark had a gambling debt and owed

34:23

Green money. Clark

34:25

was given an ultimatum pay up or else

34:28

along with a deadline. During that

34:30

meeting, Clark assured Green that the money

34:32

was forthcoming. With the deadline

34:35

for payment imminent, the failure

34:37

to recover his car from Frank Schuerman

34:39

to repay his deficit, and no other car

34:41

available that wouldn't be identified to anyone

34:43

he knew, William Clark and his accomplices

34:46

Walter Oliver and Robert Janney

34:49

walked two blocks and stole

34:51

the Green Buick from Fifteenth and Irving

34:54

Streets. They then drove to the ticket

34:56

office at fourteenth and East

34:58

Capitol Street. Clark intended

35:00

to rob two ticket offices that night,

35:03

the one at fourteenth and East Capitol Street

35:05

in addition to chevy Chase Lake, but

35:07

Clark was spotted by kW Gettings

35:10

and had to abort that first robbery,

35:12

at which point they drove to the area of

35:14

chevy Chase Lake. The

35:16

car was observed by John Stout

35:19

at three fifty in the morning as it idled

35:21

on the east side of Connecticut Avenue facing

35:23

north, a half mile south of the ticket

35:26

office. After being seen by

35:28

John Stout, they drove to the empty

35:30

lots to the north of the chevy Chase

35:32

Lake office to park and wait out

35:35

of sight. One of the suspects

35:37

exited the car and left shoe prints

35:39

in the snow along the B and O railroad

35:41

tracks out to Connecticut Avenue During

35:44

a quick reconnaissance of the ticket office

35:46

to make sure that James Mitchell was working

35:48

alone, The shoe prints led back

35:50

to the waiting car, at which point the

35:52

car exited the lots and went south

35:54

to wait in front of the office, with the car facing

35:57

southbound. According to

35:59

plan, the front door of the ticket office

36:01

was unlocked by Francis Gregory,

36:03

just like the Brightwood Ticket office

36:05

attempted robbery several months before.

36:08

William Clark and either Jenny or

36:10

Oliver entered the office and

36:12

demanded that James Mitchell unlocked

36:15

the cage door at gunpoint. Mitchell

36:17

was taken by surprise and unlocked

36:19

the cage door under duress. Because

36:22

William Clark knew that James Mitchell previously

36:25

aided the police and his arrest. Clark

36:27

shott Mitchell three times in the head

36:29

to eliminate him as a witness, and kicked

36:32

his body over to make sure he was dead. I

36:34

don't believe that Walter Oliver or

36:37

Robert Jenny expected Clark

36:39

to kill Mitchell, which set everyone

36:41

into a panic that would explain

36:43

the shouting heard by both Ernest Carter

36:46

and Charles Smallwood. Either

36:48

Janny or Oliver grabbed

36:50

the twenty two pound money bags. Then

36:53

he and Clark fled out of the office

36:55

to the waiting buick, which made a U turn

36:57

on Connecticut Avenue and went north

36:59

toward the car barn where Emery Smith

37:01

was resting in the workshop. Smith

37:04

heard the shouting and gunshots and ran

37:06

out of the barn to Connecticut Avenue. He

37:09

was forced into the car at gunpoint when

37:11

he tried to stop them, and he recognized

37:13

William Clark, who recognized him

37:15

back. Smith was killed in

37:18

the car with four shots to the head to

37:20

eliminate him as a witness, and then he was

37:22

dumped at the first convenient place, Rock

37:24

Creek, to hide his body and cover

37:27

up as murder. The car

37:29

was covered with blood and the glass

37:31

of a window was shattered, so William

37:33

Clark, Walter Oliver, and Robert

37:35

Channey went north to Plier's

37:37

Mill Road, then east to Georgia Avenue.

37:40

They went south on Georgia Avenue, which

37:43

turns into Seventh Street northwest.

37:45

It was a straight shot to the garage at

37:47

seventh and End Street, which was operated

37:50

by Duffy, an employee of

37:52

Jonas Willard Green. Once

37:54

the car was secreted in this garage, Clark

37:56

and the others got a ride, likely from

37:58

his friend John Swales, whom I believe

38:01

was Duffy, back to Gerard Street

38:03

or some other location to divvy up the money, and

38:05

then they went their respective ways. If

38:07

the car was parked in a garage for years

38:10

without being detected, it was hidden

38:12

by someone with a lot of influence and muscle

38:15

Jonas Willard Green to keep

38:17

that under wraps and keep the people with

38:19

any knowledge of its whereabouts quiet. Duffy

38:22

disappeared in nineteen thirty six. Mary

38:26

Branch knew everything, and she threatened

38:28

to go to the police when she heard that William Clark

38:31

was seeing Edith Small. Clarke tried

38:33

to kill Mary by throwing her into a river,

38:36

just like Emery Smith had been thrown into Rock

38:38

Creek. Clark panicked when he found

38:40

out that Mary survived, and he kept her in his

38:42

orbit with letters from prison. Clark

38:45

juggled all three women in his life, Viola,

38:48

Mary and Edith with manipulation,

38:50

and he made himself into the victim.

38:52

After William Clark repaid his debt

38:55

to Jonas Willard Green with the spoils

38:57

from the robbery, and the investigation into

38:59

the murders began. The district powers

39:02

in charge learned of Clark's alliance

39:04

with Green, Clark's investigation

39:07

became hands off. The detectives

39:10

chased other suspects from out of town notorious

39:12

murderers like Tony the Stinger Cogino,

39:14

who wouldn't be bothered with a small town heist.

39:17

Like the chevy Chase Lake Office, they

39:19

went on wild goose chases. William

39:22

Clark was in custody for three days. There

39:24

was no follow up regarding his alibi, no

39:27

further questions about the fact that the Gaiety

39:29

Theater had no Sunday night show,

39:32

which is something that anyone who lived in

39:34

d C would have known outright, especially

39:36

the district detectives who questioned him.

39:39

James Weir wasn't pursued at all, and

39:41

his interview amounted to all of two sentences

39:43

that said they didn't learn anything. As

39:46

long as the investigation steered clear

39:48

of William Clark and by association,

39:51

Jonas Willard Green, the detectives

39:53

were allowed to move forward. That

39:55

also explains why the State of Maryland

39:57

started a case against Walter Oliver

40:00

and others and not directly against

40:02

William Clark, and why so many balls

40:04

were dropped during Clark's part of the investigation.

40:07

Because of Jonas Willard Green's tangential

40:10

association to a double murder murders

40:13

that were not part of the original robbery

40:15

plan, the case was swept under

40:17

the rug and covered up due to

40:19

Green's relationship with his cousin, d

40:22

C Commission President Melvin Hazen. William

40:24

Clark wasn't discreet and would have done anything

40:27

to get out of prison or get a reduced sentence,

40:29

including the dropping of Jonas Willard Green's

40:31

name. Clark couldn't be trusted to keep

40:34

a lid on it, so for the people in charge,

40:36

it was better to leave the case buried under

40:38

amount of suspicion rather than give

40:40

Clark up as the perpetrator and risk

40:42

him running his mouth. While Clark

40:45

was in prison for the attempted murder of Mary

40:47

Branch, Clark alluded to a friend

40:50

in one of his letters whom he said would

40:52

float him the money for an attorney.

40:54

In my opinion, his friend

40:56

was Jonas Willard Green. I

40:58

believe that Montgomery County detectives Volton,

41:01

mccaulliffe and Rogers could have solved

41:03

this case in nineteen thirty six, but

41:05

they were prevented from doing so by

41:08

the powers in the District of Columbia. They

41:10

had no jurisdiction over the district line

41:12

from Montgomery County. That was

41:15

why Colonel mccauliffe got so angry

41:17

when Jack Toomey mentioned the Carborn

41:20

case to him in nineteen five. Mccaulliffe

41:23

knew it was a cover up and he was powerless

41:26

to do anything about it because the

41:28

suspects all lived in d C, even

41:30

though the crime happened just over the district line

41:32

in Maryland. Volton and the others

41:34

were reliant upon the assistance of district

41:37

detectives who were in the know about

41:39

Clark and Green's affiliation, and the Brakes

41:42

were slammed on any further investigation. By

41:45

nineteen fifty four, when the new information

41:47

came out, nearly twenty years had passed

41:49

and nobody in the district, including

41:51

Captain Richard McCarty, was going to open

41:54

that can of arms and have to testify

41:56

in court as to their incompetence

41:58

or complicity in a cover. It

42:00

was easier to just let sleeping dogs

42:03

lie. Captain

42:05

Volton never let the case go, and

42:07

he couched his nineteen fifty four report

42:10

in veiled terms, referring to Jonas

42:12

Willard Green only as ex Sergeant

42:15

Green rather than use his full name.

42:18

I believe he did this purposefully to keep

42:20

any one of importance who was still around

42:22

and saw it, from tossing his report into

42:24

the trash can. It was a strategy

42:26

that eventually worked. My friend

42:28

Stephanie White cracked Green's identity,

42:31

and I put all the pieces together. That's

42:34

my opening argument against my primary suspect,

42:37

William Clark. He had the means,

42:39

the motive, and the opportunity to commit this

42:41

crime. His alibi has been

42:43

obliterated, his lives have been exposed,

42:46

his affiliation to people of influence has

42:48

been found. His past criminal history

42:51

showed his pensiont for armed robbery, and

42:53

his subsequent crimes showed his propensity

42:55

for violence and a complete disregard

42:58

for human life. I'll

43:00

present more about William Clark next

43:02

week, and I'll talk about Robert Jenny

43:05

Walter, Oliver Francis Gregory,

43:08

Jonas Willard Greene, and Mary branch

43:10

In the next few episodes. Oh

43:13

and you might be wondering, what about James

43:15

Weir, the guy who gave William Clark

43:17

an alibi? Well, who

43:20

do you think Captain Bolton's confidential

43:22

informant was. If

43:27

you have information about the Carborn murders,

43:30

go to the Shattered Souls Facebook page

43:32

and leave me a message. Shattered

43:34

Souls The Carborn Murders as produced by Karen

43:36

Smith and Angel Heart Productions